


The Reason I Hold On

by Gleennui



Category: Glee
Genre: Common Cold, Elementary School, Fluff, Gen, Inspired by Fanfiction, M/M, Pre-Slash, SOTB-inspired, fic-ception
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-26
Updated: 2015-01-26
Packaged: 2018-03-09 03:08:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3234002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gleennui/pseuds/Gleennui
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Puck is sick. Finn takes care of him. By sixth grade, they are who they will be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Reason I Hold On

Finn leans his bike up against the front step of Puck’s apartment building and wedges it behind a bush. Hiis mom would probably yell at him for not using the lock, but Finn’s twelve now, and he’s doing what Mrs. Grossman calls “making a judgment call.” Just in case, though, he pushes the bike a little closer to the building before he goes inside.

Mrs. P greets him at the door, holding Hannah. She looks really tired, but Hannah giggles and claps. 

“Finn, I’m sorry. I forgot you were coming over. Noah’s either sleeping or wants me to think he is, but you can go on in his room,” she says, and holds her purse away from Hannah, who’s trying to grab it. “We ran out of some groceries, so I’m taking Hannah to Ray’s.”

“Day’s!” Hannah squeals, “Nanimal cookie!” 

“We’ll see,” Mrs. P looks at Finn and smiles, but it doesn’t look like a real smile. “Don’t let Noah run around outside, even if he tells you he feels better.” She wags her finger and Hannah imitates her, giggling. 

Finn sticks his tongue out at Hannah and thanks Mrs. P, and tip-toes over to Puck’s room. He doesn’t think Puck’s sleeping, and when he opens the door and peeks inside, he can see he’s right. Puck is lying on his back, scribbling in a notebook, but when he sees Finn, he grins and shoves the notebook between his bed and the wall. 

“Hey,” Puck says, but before he can say anything else, he starts coughing, and he has to down almost half of the glass of water next to his bed before he can talk again. “Sorry.”

Finn shrugs and sits on the end of Puck’s bed, unzipping his backpack so he can pull out Puck’s homework.

“Mrs. G says if you need help with any of this, she can help when you get back, but it’s pretty easy.” 

Puck frowns. “Not if it’s social studies. I don’t get why we need to learn about all the Chinese Dynasties if we’re not even allowed to go to China.” He sniffs loudly and wipes his nose across the back of his hand. 

“I...that might be Cuba, dude. But nah, this is math, mostly. Some English, but we just had to write a paragraph about what we’re doing this summer. I lied, ‘cause I don’t think she’ll give me a good grade for saying we’re going to try every single flavor of Ben & Jerry’s.” 

Puck laughs, but it turns into another cough, and Finn jumps off the bed and grabs Puck’s water glass. “Water’s gross when you’re sick. Does your mom have juice?” 

Puck nods. “Orange, I think, but it’s the frozen kind and it’s still frozen.” He coughs again, and rolls onto his side, groaning. “Let’s go ride bikes after the juice.” 

“Yeah, okay,” Finn nods, but knows he won’t let Puck go outside until he stops coughing and getting snot on his hand. He does find frozen orange juice, and climbs up on the counter for Mrs. P’s pink pitcher to mix it in. Once it’s mixed the way he and Puck like it--with two cans of water instead of three--he goes in the bathroom and peers into the medicine cabinet. The Puckermans have the green cold medicine Finn’s mom gets, so he grabs that and a little measuring cup. He doesn’t know if Puck has a fever, but just in case, he gets a towel and puts cool water on it. 

Finn finds the tray he and Puck use when they babysit Hannah so she can eat chicken nuggets with them on the living room floor, and piles the medicine, towel, and a big glass of orange juice with ice on it. When he gets back to Puck’s room, Puck’s eyes are closed but otherwise he hasn’t moved from where Finn left him. 

“I got your juice,” Finn whispers, and nudges Puck so he can sit down next to him on the bed. “And medicine. And you have to take it and drink all the juice.” Puck blinks his eyes open and nods, rolling back onto his back. 

“‘m not sick.” 

“Yeah you are, Puck, but I’ll stay with you until my mom makes me go home. Promise. Sit up, okay?” Puck pushes himself up until he’s mostly sitting, and he lets Finn put the tray over his lap and hand him the glass. 

“You get the adult dose now that you’re twelve,” Finn says, mostly to himself, as he pours the medicine, squinting to read the lines on the cup. “Take it all at once and then drink the juice fast right after.” 

Puck nods and takes the cup from Finn, looking up at Finn once before closing his eyes and wrinkling his nose. He does take the medicine all in one gulp, though, and then drinks big mouthfuls of juice until his face unscrunches. 

“Good job,” Finn smiles at Puck, and puts the medicine and cup on the floor. Puck grins and lowers his eyes, leaning back against the pillows. 

“What’s that?” Finn looks at where Puck’s pointing, and grabs the towel. 

“Just in case you have a fever. My mom does this when I’m sick.” Finn leans over and lays the towel over Puck’s forehead, cool side down. Puck makes a “brrr” noise and shivers, but doesn’t pull the towel away. “Sorry. I know it feels cold, but it’ll make you feel better.” 

“Thanks,” Puck smiles again, but his eyes are closing. Finn gets up and takes the tray away, putting it next to the medicine on the floor. “Where’re you going?” 

When Finn looks back at Puck, Puck’s frowning, his eyes still closed. 

“‘m not. I promised I’d stay until my mom called, remember?” 

“Yeah. Yeah, okay.” Puck’s face relaxes. “Stay _here_?”

Finn nods, even though Puck can’t see him, and climbs onto the bed, carefully lying on the other side of Puck. He turns onto his side and Puck presses closer. It’s basically _snuggling_ , Finn thinks, but he doesn’t mind, and Puck doesn’t seem to mind, and it reminds Finn of how they used to fall asleep as kids. He can hear Puck start to snore softly, and Finn reaches up to run his fingers through Puck’s curls, like Finn’s mom does to Finn’s hair when he’s sick. 

“Yeah. I’ll stay right here.”

Before Finn can think about it, he leans over and kisses Puck on the forehead, just below his curls. Puck’s skin is cold and damp from the towel, but also warm, like he definitely has a fever. It feels kind of weird, but also nice, and Finn understands why his mom _also_ always does that when Finn’s sick. He lies all the way down, his head next to Puck’s on the pillow, and fights off sleep. Puck might need him, and Finn promised he’d stay.


End file.
